Urban Planning

Smart is as smart does. The NDA government’s proposal to build 100 “smart” cities will work only if it can reinvent the very idea of urban growth in a country like India. Smart thinking will require the government to not only copy the model cities of the already developed Western world, but also find a new measure of liveability that will work for Indian situation, where the cost of growth is unaffordable for most.

After Pune, which is reaping the benefits of an eco-housing scheme launched last year, Mumbai now can do the same. The decks stand cleared for the launch of an eco-housing scheme in Mumbai, which offers financial incentives to both builders and consumers.

Prepared by Pune-based Science and Technology Park and recently adopted by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (mcgm), the scheme will certify green residential complexes, both new constructions and retrofitted buildings.